CRTC opens consultation on whether Big 3 telecoms can sell wholesale fibre internet

OTTAWA — Canada’s telecommunications regulator has launched a consultation to determine whether the country’s Big 3 providers should be able access wholesale fibre internet services.

The move comes in response to an order from the federal cabinet, which earlier this month denied an appeal filed by BCE Inc. of a partial CRTC decision last year.

That decision, which has since been expanded nationally by the regulator, allowed smaller internet providers to sell services to their customers through fibre networks in Ontario and Quebec owned by Bell Canada and Telus Corp.

Bell had argued the CRTC’s direction, while meant to stimulate competition for internet services, reduced its incentive to continue building out its fibre network.

While Ottawa upheld that decision, it said the CRTC should “reconsider a discrete aspect” — whether major players such as Bell, Telus and Rogers Communications Inc. should be prohibited from using each other’s fibre networks to sell internet service to customers.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the government had concerns “about fostering the viability of small and regional internet service providers that provide alternatives and about maintaining investments in internet infrastructure, particularly in underserved areas including rural, remote and Indigenous communities.”

The CRTC says stakeholders can submit their feedback on the matter until Dec. 12.